Going to Qiongzhou is not difficult in Guangzhou. Before the Australians entered Guangzhou, Dabo Shipping had a branch at Tianzi Wharf. There are ships between Lingao and Guangzhou every few days, which is very convenient. Nowadays,
Wuyangyi on the banks of the Pearl River has been occupied by Dabo as the Guangzhou sales office, and the liner has also been changed to operate every day, not only to Lingao, but also to Qiongshan.
If Zhang Dai wanted to go, he could just buy a boat ticket. However, it was not easy for people to travel far away at that time, and there were all kinds of inconveniences when living as a guest. In order to make the journey smooth, people with some wealth and status had to write a letter to ask for information about the destination before going out.
Acquaintances take care of you. If you don’t have any relatives or friends in the local area, you have to find one in a roundabout way, and bring a letter from the introducer to visit to ask for the other party’s care. For wealthy gentry families, such mutual exchanges and care are even more common.
Zhang Dai naturally had such a plan when he went to Lingao. The Liang family had connections with the Australians, and he originally planned to ask Liang Cunhou to make arrangements.
Now that Guangzhou has fallen, the Liang family has also "received the favor of the emperor", so it is naturally inconvenient for them to have contact with the Australians - in fact, all the gentry in Guangzhou now have this attitude, and no one wants to be "defected".
Making excuses will cause unnecessary trouble to their relatives and friends, especially since many of their fathers, brothers, sons and nephews are still studying in the Ming Dynasty as officials, and they dare not have any contact with Australians anymore.
Since the Liang family could not come forward, Zhang Dai had another option: Zhao Xiucai from Sanshui in Hangzhou.
In Hangzhou, Zhao Yingong had frequent contacts with him and could be regarded as a "friend" - this was not because Zhang Dai was impressed by Zhao Yingong's special temperament or personality charm, but because of the care of Zhang Pu, the leader of the restoration society.
The "Australian background" of Sanshui Zhao Xiucai is not a secret among the gentry in Hangzhou. Zhang Pu's view goes further: Zhao Yingong is actually the agent of the Kun thief, and it is very likely that he himself is a Kun thief.
Zhang Pu did not know anything about what the Kun thieves did in Guangdong. However, compared with the Donglu, the Kun thieves had both advantages and disadvantages in the Ming Dynasty. They were not just capable of barbaric looting like the Donglu. If they could be guided and utilized,
It can be regarded as a good medicine to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, he hinted to Zhang Dai that he might as well make friends with Mr. Zhao and maintain a certain friendly relationship. It would be a reliable communication channel at critical times, and he could also understand some of the internal situation of the Kun thieves. Zhang Pu knew: the imperial court's control of all enemies
To understand is astonishing ignorance.
Zhang Dai was not as complicated and long-term as Zhang Pu thought, but he always liked novelty and exquisite things, and the various "Australian goods" brought by Mr. Zhao of Sanshui just met his needs, so he was happy to obey.
This time when he went south, he made a special trip to visit Zhao Yingong and asked him to write an "Eight Lines" letter.
Hearing that he intended to visit Lingao, Zhao Yingong seemed very attentive. He immediately patted his chest and expressed that he was interested in him, and immediately wrote an "eight-line" letter to the "Master of Runshi Hall".
Zhang Dai didn't know who the owner of Runshitang was, but since it was written to him, everything would be easy as long as he found Runshitang when he arrived in Lingao.
Unexpectedly, when I arrived in Guangzhou, I heard that there was also a branch of Runshitang in Guangzhou. In this way, things became even simpler. Zhang Dai had made up his mind and sent a boy to take his name card to Runshitang to post.
, saying that he would choose a day to visit.
"…Through the public security rectification of the city's customs industry, industrial and commercial registration and household surveys, the clean-up and rectification team has initially grasped the situation of brothels and customs industry practitioners in the entire urban area of Guangzhou (including the Simenguanxiang area)
"There are 194 registered brothels in the urban area, with 1,548 registered employees and 3,445 auxiliary employees. The youngest prostitute is 10 years old and the oldest is 55 years old (note: Pipa Tsai is not included). Young women aged 16 to 25,
Accounting for less than 5o% of the total number of prostitutes. The specific age distribution is shown in the table below...
"In terms of sources of prostitutes, 62% of the total number were from Lehu, 27% were from Danhu, and 11% were from good families. However, during the survey we learned that many madams from Lehu led their families to purchase girls from poor families.
, pretending to be their own daughters to avoid the legal ban on forcing girls into prostitution. Therefore, this statistics cannot truly reflect the source of prostitutes...
"Based on our comprehensive assessment of brothel size, decoration level, consumption level and traditional social views, Guangzhou's brothels can be roughly divided into four grades. The first-class brothels are mostly named 'Xingyuan' or 'Dazhai' (water brothel)
It exists in form. In terms of business scale, there are at least 10 prostitutes, and there can be more than 20 prostitutes. In addition, there are several "Pipa boys". The building decoration and furnishings are very elegant. Prostitutes are generally younger, have better looks, and have more backgrounds.
Most of the Lehu family are proficient in writing, calligraphy, calligraphy, painting, and poetry. Some famous prostitutes are well-known locally and even throughout the province. Prostitutes are less abused and have a higher standard of living. This type
The consumer price of brothels is very high, and most of the brothels are for banquets, music, wine, and tea. However, the number of such brothels in the custom industry is very small. There are only 9 in the urban area, accounting for less than 1% of the entire industry.
5%, with 134 employees, accounting for 8.6% of the employees.…
"It is worth noting that although the proportion of prostitutes employed in first-class brothels is less than 10%, the number of auxiliary employees in first-class brothels, including handymen, cooks, customers' wives, craftsmen, etc., accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire auxiliary employees.
Operating income and profits account for more than half of the entire custom industry. The scale effect is very obvious...
"Second-class brothels are mainly smaller in size and quality than first-class brothels, but in terms of specific grades, they are on par with first-class brothels. Locally, they are often called 'semi-private brothels'. Second-class brothels are often called 'book apartments' or 'painted boats'.
' and other forms of operation, the house is small and exquisite, there are only 1 or 2 prostitutes, and there are also several maids and pipa boys. In fact, the maids are also employees. The operation situation is the same as that of a first-class brothel. There are also famous prostitutes. This type
Most of the brothel practitioners are from "Lehu", and they often adopt a family-style operation. The madam and the prostitute are often in a mother-daughter relationship. There are 38 second-class brothels in the city, with 80 employees (including maids)...
"Third and fourth-class brothels are pure prostitution transactions, with simple venues and no pomp. Fourth-class brothels do not even have formal houses. They only build shacks and shacks in the wasteland outside the city for prostitutes to have sex. Most of the third- and fourth-class brothels are medium-sized brothels.
Clients from the lower class are the business targets, and the employees may be older or less attractive. Because the price of selling sex is very low, in order to squeeze the maximum profit, some prostitutes have to accept more than 20 clients a day and night. Prostitutes are also the most severely abused and oppressed. This is
Brothels are also hot spots for sexually transmitted diseases. The investigation of sexually transmitted diseases among prostitutes in third- and fourth-class brothels is shown in the table below...
"In addition to the brothels that have registered and obtained business licenses, there are still 6 brothels in the form of nunneries. Their operating conditions are roughly similar to first- and second-class brothels. There are also Danhu Hua Ting, 'Salt Water Girl' and Beggar Bone.
Due to the large mobility of the site and people, it is initially estimated that the number of employees should be between 1,000 and 2,000, most of whom are floating population without household registration...
"In addition to brothels, there are four or five Xianggong Tangzi in Guangzhou. The scale and form of their operations are roughly similar to those of second-class brothels. They employ about 50 people. They are currently also included in the scope of custom industry regulation...
"To sum up, we can find that the scale of the custom industry in Guangzhou is not only large, but the percentage of related employees in the urban population is also quite high. This has a lot to do with the fact that it is a trading port city with many places...
…”
"This "Preliminary Investigation Report on the Customs Industry in Guangzhou" has almost been revised." Liu Xiang closed the manuscript with satisfaction and nodded to Zhang Yunmi. Zhang Yunmi's expression at this time was just like Liu Xiang's before D-Day many years ago.
Before the doctoral students were born and working for the boss for free - the expression of a girl whom Liu Xiang mentored who urgently needed to complete a big thesis within a month.
"Let's give it to Lu Cheng for the second work. I've been treating you like a dogleg for half a month." Liu Xiang casually added Lu Cheng's name to the author of the cover. Zhang Yunmi agreed with a "hmm".
His eyes narrowed meaningfully.
Liu Xiang just pretended not to notice, casually talked about some work matters, and then beat Zhang Yunmi away.
As soon as Zhang Yunmi left the office door, he saw Lu Cheng coming with several documents. Zhang Yunmi smiled mysteriously, responded to Lu Cheng's greeting, and left. When he passed by, Lu Cheng glanced sideways.
When I saw the cover of the article and the two very inconsistent and forced names, I felt a little excited, but within a few seconds I calmed down and knocked on the door of Liu Xiang's office rhythmically.
"Mayor, today someone came to Runshitang Guangzhou Business Station with a name card of Mr. Zhao from Hangzhou, saying that he wanted to see the 'Master of Runshitang'." Lu Cheng handed over the handbag,
"Mr. Zhao... uh huh, what's the news about him?" Liu Xiang was a little confused like a monk. He was so surprised that he almost said the word that should have been omitted in front of the naturalized people. "Could it be that they are conquering Guangzhou here?
Well, the situation with Lao Zhao is very tense. Didn't he say last time that he was 'inspecting trade routes with Japan'? There should be no problem!" Liu Xiang thought to himself.
"Who is the visitor? Did you send a name card?"
"Yes," Lu Cheng said, "his name is Zhang Dai. This is his name card."
"Zhang Dai, this name is quite familiar... he should be a famous person." Liu Xiang looked at the famous post, took out a "reading book for seniors" with no cover and only a black cardboard box from the drawer, and turned the pages.
After a while, I found Zhang Dai's name under the "z-Zhang" entry.
Zhang Dai, Fushe...Jiangnan Shilin...Liu Xiang closed the pages of the book with a slightly loud movement, making a dull "bang" sound. (To be continued.) 8